Do you use build science, wealth, culture?

[volfan37132]

I'm trying to get an idea if other players use build research (available with alphabet),
build wealth (available with currency) or build culture (available with music). I almost
never use these, but I've been having second thoughts. Build research could be useful
for space race. Build culture could be useful for culture victories. Build wealth could
be useful for a shrine, bureaucracy capital. I'm normally more inclined to build another
building, military unit, missionary or worker. Please add feedback.

 

[jauggy]

I use build wealth. Just remember that building wealth/research/culture uses hammer multiplier buildings e.g. forge. Building wealth (to run higher research slider) is better than building research to get your research up assuming that you have more research multipliers overall e.g. libraries.

 

[Hsinchu]

When you're metropolis has built every desired building or every available building and your unit maintenance is stretching its limit and your opponents are effectively pinned down, there is basically no other option unless you like pre-building every military unit you have and rotating them to maintain that "one turn away" protection... which is alot of micro.

Otherwise, producing Wealth is huge for high maintenance armies (like the aforemntioned situation) and building one wealth could mean building two units elsewhere. Producing culture is useful for obvious reasons... squeezing out a cultural victory one or two turns sooner for the HOF wall is totally worth not building an extra drydock. Building Research is probably the most common use I have. Getting a technology ONE turn sooner can often mean ONE turn sooner that your workers can start improving that oil/aluminum/etc. Getting a technology ONE turn sooner can mean rescuing your economy from crashing and losing your hard earned praetorians.

If you've ever min/maxed in CivIV you probably love that feeling when your tech comes around and your worker just finished and get straight to work on that IMPORTANT hookup instead of wasting more turns building roads and for a game start this is crucial. In the midgame, keeping this min/max attitude as much as your meticulously micromanaging mind can manipulate is motioning towards more than momentary might and helps to solidify otherwise shaky victory.

 

[Hsinchu]

I use build wealth. Just remember that building wealth/research/culture uses hammer multiplier buildings e.g. forge. Building wealth (to run higher research slider) is better than building research to get your research up assuming that you have more research multipliers overall e.g. libraries.

Also note... the hammer to other conversion is 50%, so even if you have 100% bonuses, you are back to 100% base. The advantage needs to be worth the :shield: loss.

 

[mechaerik]

In a recent game I had a bureaucracy production capital with IronWorks building wealth.





I bumped the slider a few times.

 

[DMOC]

I frequently build wealth because I often have more research multipliers (libraries and universities) than wealth multipliers (markets, grocers, and banks). Occasionally I will build research because I need that tech 1 turn sooner and if I build wealth, and go to 100% research slider, it won't be enough to finish that technology.

 

[mariogreymist]

I have gone through games using these very little, but will use any and all of them in particular circumstances. Building wealth is a very good way to dig yourself out of an overexpansion economic crunch, and I probably use it more frequently than any other. I will build tech when in a close race for Liberalism. And I will build culture to take border land for usage/settlement or to finish off a culture win.

 

[Ignorant Teacher]

I frequently build wealth. I build research when my slider's already at 100% science, otherwise I think you get better results with wealth. The problem is that the governor is a pain, you have to manually check each of the cities building wealth/research/culture to make sure you're getting all you can.

 

[eris]

If I am going for either a Space or Cultural Vicitory I will use them when I feel I have gotten myself set up comfortably as a military, or use them in most cities and produce a military from a couple key cities. Using them during a military game (Conquest or Domination) is very rare and dependent on getting myself into situations I should have avoided somehow.. (ie: boneheaded errors or miscalculating enemy strengths or reactions) Very very occassionally I have used them when there is nothing really useful to build until the next tech breakthrough and I have much too much military hanging around from overestimating an enemy.

 

[Antilogic]

When you're metropolis has built every desired building or every available building and your unit maintenance is stretching its limit and your opponents are effectively pinned down, there is basically no other option unless you like pre-building every military unit you have and rotating them to maintain that "one turn away" protection... which is alot of micro.

This actually happens in the game? I never seem to have enough units, and it's not until the later game when I actually have built a lot of buildings.

However, I still use the -> , , options. The science one is already covered for my uses (picking up a technology a turn sooner if the slider won't cover it). I build wealth in a city or two when my initial expansion hits the financial breaking point. If you have a city of 5ish population and just a library, you can run one or two as scientists and then produce wealth to get an extra few gold per turn. I don't recommend doing it long term because getting more infrastructure up at this point in the game is a high priority, and there is stuff to be built. However, while you are going for Code of Laws (if you get Currency first) to repair your economy, it can be a life-saver. I've also done this when going for Construction to get siege equipment for my second wave of expansion. Direct culture production can be used when going for the culture win and you don't have a wonder to make, or when you have just conquered a city, need to expand its borders quickly, and can't whip a theater or monastery to get the culture accumulating.

 

[Badtz Maru]

I frequently build wealth, either to get money for upgrading units or to allow me to increase my science slider when I'm trying to hurry towards a specific tech. I'll also build wealth if I have no need for military units and there is nothing useful that city could build.

I very occasionally will build culture, but definitely not in every or even in most games. Occasionally I'll have a situation where I need to do a culture push to reclaim an important square or two, but I usually find better means of increasing culture.

I don't think I have built research since my first month or so playing Civ4. It's almost always better to build wealth and use that to increase your science slider.

 

[Hsinchu]

I don't think I have built research since my first month or so playing Civ4. It's almost always better to build wealth and use that to increase your science slider.

Agreed. Build research when science slider is at 100% and you are still raking gold. (If you are playing for cows).

 

[Iranon]

Very rarely... and mostly to save up chop/overflow hammers until I can use them for something good; as I consider hammers ~2 times as valuable as commerce I will not do this without a need. Typical ones:

Wealth: Recovering a crashed economy after a REX; I probably have little or no gold multipliers at this time.
Science: Last leg of a space race game when I only care about science and spaceship parts.
Culture: Last leg of a cultural victory.

For most other means, I find replacing production with something else better than channeling production into this. Especially for a Bureaucratic capital by the way, because of the way the bonuses are handled - hammers with a forge become +75%, but commerce with +25% gold and science becomes +87.5.

 

[dirtyparrot]

For the most part I will only build wealth (and usually to recover from an economic crash from REXing). I might build science if I'm trying to beat an AI to a certain tech that gives you some type of bonus for discovering it first.

 

[hunterai]

I most often will use wealth. Research is sometimes useful but not that often. Culture, I only use right founding a new city. Unless pushing for cultural victory, in which case it can be the difference between losing to spaceship by several turns or winning cultural by a few turns

 

[Flying Pig]

I build culture to make my cities pop when I'm not Creative or using Stonehenge.

 

[mechaerik]

Generally, building wealth is better than science, because with wealth you can probably get enough to raise the slider at least once, giving you more beakers than just building science.

 

[DMOC]

I build culture to make my cities pop when I'm not Creative or using Stonehenge.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that. Good point. Just be sure to work the highest hammer tiles available in the starting city's BFC.

Alternatively you can run an artist for 3 turns in caste system on normal speed. Depends on whichever is fastest.

 

[binhthuy71]

Late game I often switch my commerce city (The one with Wall Street, Civ Jewelers HQ) over to Wealth. If I'm not warmongering then I switch most of the others to research or culture as appropriate to their strengths.

 

[DMOC]

Just curious, but why the wall street city specifically? Wealth is converted via production modifiers IIRC so the Ironworks city might be best for building wealth, but more often than not I build wonders with it.